COVID Lay-offs... Anyone here affected?

[Lazybob]

My jobs shutdown starting tomorrow so I'm without work until this clears up. I'm taking my sick/holiday pay which will cover 2-3 weeks then I could file for temporary unemployment.

The owner of the company I work for called me an hour ago and said once I (or any other employee) files for unemployment he would pay the difference between what that pays and our normal pay once we start work again. Great and all but he suggested not taking sick/vacation time and just doing that instead so I'd still have those when we start again. I just told him some BS and I would need as much as I can get up front so I'd take the vacation days then file for unemployment if this lasts that long. While I don't THINK we'll go out of business I don't know what he knows and want to make sure I get that vacation time I'm owed while I can in case the worst happens.

 

[Jittan]

I work for an Authorized Retailer for AT&T. AT&T is classified as an essential retailer because we have a Government contract for our specific First Responder Network, so while ATT Core has shutter 40% of stores already, and our AR has had to close all mall locations and a lot of other doors, I am currently working but with slashed hours. Although it being a commission job, there is a good chance I would make the same and/or more if I was just laid off since it goes off the last years wages.

They have already laid off one person in our location, and I will probably be next but I was expecting it anyway. If so, I will see what employment does and how SNAP helps and if it doesn't make sense, I know many of the grocery stores are hiring like crazy and while that doesn't cover the extra in bonus I make, it should keep me afloat for a while until we can see what the end of this may look like.

Biggest issue is that while everyone talks about 2 weeks shelter in place, if you have half a brain you realize this is going to be a much longer problem than that since the issue is there is no vaccine to prevent it.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

May get my hours severely cut soon. My boss is not too keen on the idea of us working from home since he can't micromanage us.

 

[Tycho Kepler]

Right now just me and my boss are working, everyone else is allowed to file for unemployment due to lowered hours. Girlfriend got laid off her job.

 

[FRS1987]

Hours keep getting shorter

 

[Bebpo]

Small business owner here. Our business is going to tank. As an owner, I don't qualify for unemployment I think, and I won't have free time back to try to apply to other jobs, will be working full time and making $0 maybe this whole year along with the other owners just to keep the lights on and try to not fire our few employees (these people depend on their paychecks) so that when this is all over we can still have our business and hopefully come back from this.

It's pretty sobering, for sure. It's a family business, so my whole family will be making $0 (or the business will be in the red and we'll be bleeding our personal money until it's gone) so we can't have a family member we can fall back on for help if things get really bad. Also my parent's got fucked 2008-style with a deal that's timing fell right now and it looks really likely that they just lost almost all their retirement savings and are 70+ with $0 income outside social security to live on now. My dad built up our business from scratch over 40 years and losing all his retirement and maybe the business suddenly over the course of the last 10 days has gotten him really depressed. I've never been worried about my dad, but a tiny bit worried this could get him suicidal in worst case scenario.

Been spending 4-5 hours a day even this weekend on the phone with family members trying to figure out ideas for getting loans and as much liquid money as we can to survive and keep a roof over our head, food. It's been pretty depressing.

We're gonna try to float and hold in for as long as we can without firing anyone. Hoping for a miracle that some economic positive change happens to save so many people in the next few months.

I've always been the weird one in the family that's been ultra-paranoid about investing and whose kept a pretty low cost of living (to retire early at some point), so I should be ok even if our business shutters and can look for a new job in a year or two when things are hiring, but I'm pretty close to my family and seeing my parents go through this is hard. I'm going to work on getting a loan tomorrow personally so I can help out my parents financially for now.

 

[Deception]

Pretty much every full time employee at my company was let go on Friday and every part timer last week. We were already in a tough position with many people lobbying to make what we do against the law. Me and my girlfriend just bought a house in September and the salon she works at is closed for the next 30 days as well so it's going to be really tough for us over the next few months until I can find a new job and she can get back to work

 

[Mariolee]

Jesus Bebpo that sounds intense. I'm so sorry you're going through all of this, especially for your parents. Best of luck with getting the loans they need.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

It's impossible for me to lose my job.
Because I never had one, lmao.

 

[CommodoreKong]

Lucky for me my company works for small ISPs around the country and we are actually super busy and panic hiring right now. Most people will probably keep their internet as long as possible even if losing their jobs so I feel pretty secure.

 

[Falcon511]

I am in IT and can work remote. So I should be fine. There are some It employees who still need to go to the campus to make sure things are running okay. I am just not sure how this will affect higher education. Although I do believe I am going to be one of the few who can watch the services that we use over the next coming weeks as my co worker will be handling the online learning stuff. So I think I am safe. This spring semester will be taught online.

Ah however I did learn in an email that while the college itself in terms of teaching isnt essential, some stuff I do is a bit essential. If I can't solve an issue here I may have to go to main campus to help. However I dont think that will happen.

 

[JeTmAn]

I am in IT and can work remote. So I should be fine. There are some It employees who still need to go to the campus to make sure things are running okay. I am just not sure how this will affect higher education. Although I do believe I am going to be one of the few who can watch the services that we use over the next coming weeks as my co worker will be handling the online learning stuff. So I think I am safe. This spring semester will be taught online.

Click to shrink...

Higher ed too. Things are pretty scary since I know the budget is going to take a big hit with having to refund students for half the semester's housing and meal plan costs. But in general education is a pretty safe place to be. People go back to school during recessions.

 

[Bebpo]

Jesus Bebpo that sounds intense. I'm so sorry you're going through all of this, especially for your parents. Best of luck with getting the loans they need.

Click to shrink...

Thanks, it's definitely been intense. I've been trying to exercise daily to try to stay positive, but yeah it's still a tough, depressing and sad situation. Hard to play games and stuff without thinking about it.

I see a therapist once a month and my next session is Tuesday. Very much looking forward to that help because I need it right now.

 

[Falcon511]

Higher ed too. Things are pretty scary since I know the budget is going to take a big hit with having to refund students for half the semester's housing and meal plan costs. But in general education is a pretty safe place to be. People go back to school during recessions.

Click to shrink...

This is true, housing and meal plans will need to be refunded, but again i dont really work on main campus and most of my work is and will be for future hospitals plus the University SharePoint sites. Also we are still in the process of moving our stuff to SharePoint Online. I think I am good.

 

[SneakyBadger]

A friend of mine just got laid off. The whole company is about to go under because they're in the hospitality business.

 

[YourFriendLevi]

The opposite actually, I'm working more now than I was before. People here are taking 60 hour weeks.

 

[BringBackSonics]

I feel for all of you guys, next week will be tough for many.

 

[mozbar]

I teach English to mostly business people in Tokyo via one-on-one sessions on premises: I just went back to work today, after an unexpected 3 weeks paid time off. I was presented with a "Letter of Understanding" that pretty much places me and my colleagues at risk.

Part of it said it's not mandatory for clients to wear masks AND there is nothing about sanitizing our hands, desks and keyboards or not handing lesson notes to clients.

If I decide not to work because of the obvious situation, it will be an attendance issue and they will decide if it's excused or unexcused. The latter is more likely.

If I don't sign it, I don't get paid if the company closes again during this pandemic.

I am mulling over selling my soul, because it sets a precedent for future action, and the bill always comes due.

Our union is doing their best to protect members at this time.

EDIT: To top it all off, I asked my supervisor about the contents of the supposed desk cleaner. He couldn't tell me. Later found out it's a spray for when you have a stain on furniture. In our case, when you get some ink on the table by mistake.

 

[Ovaryactor]

Got laid off. Housekeeping and cooking:(

 

[texhnolyze]

The opposite actually, I'm working more now than I was before. People here are taking 60 hour weeks.

Click to shrink...

Me too.

I still open my Slack to coordinate with my co-workers every now and then this weekend. We're VERY busy albeit working from home.

 

[Deleted member 41178]

Looks like my company may end up making about 50% of the staff redundant.

Should know more in a couple of weeks, it's hit a few of our biggest clients really hard, a couple have ceased trading completely and others are down to around 20% of their usual take. So they aren't spending what they usually would with us as there is not much point in Marketing at the moment.

 

[FaceHugger]

My neighbor is the only person I can think of off the top of my head. He's an accountant who worked for some company that owns a bunch of other businesses that are all basically affected (theaters, bars, etc). So there wasn't much money coming in, and people like him were one of the first to be considered unneeded for now. He told me though that he has a lot in savings and once this is over he can be rehired, so he sounds good. He's also looking into doing some kind of remote work other places in the meantime.

 

[mhayes86]

My wife didn't lose her job, but she's now on leave. She's an assistant director to a childcare facility, and between her and her boss there isn't enough work between the two, so she got cut to save on costs. A few other teachers there are also being cut. Childcare is still essential, but with so many people either WFH or losing jobs, kids are being pulled out so centers are struggling to pay staff or stay open.

As for me, my whole team came in this morning with an email from our company saying that we're essential in the event there's a lock down in the MD, VA, DC area, and a letter to keep with us in case. While I would love to WFH if it were at all possible, I can at least support the two of us and our dogs at the moment.

 

[Rosur]

I am in IT and can work remote. So I should be fine. There are some It employees who still need to go to the campus to make sure things are running okay. I am just not sure how this will affect higher education. Although I do believe I am going to be one of the few who can watch the services that we use over the next coming weeks as my co worker will be handling the online learning stuff. So I think I am safe. This spring semester will be taught online.

Ah however I did learn in an email that while the college itself in terms of teaching isnt essential, some stuff I do is a bit essential. If I can't solve an issue here I may have to go to main campus to help. However I dont think that will happen.

Click to shrink...

Work in IT In a UK University and yeah so far is business as normal expect working from home all the time, feel there might be an issue for me if we end up being still in shutdown mode come August/ September as that will effect the amount of new students as A-level results will be effected.
Though GF company she works for is having issues with supply and a slowdown in sales so likely be out of a job soon.

 

[Porsche85]

I haven't yet they've just sent us home, but I am a member of the field marketing team at my company and we have nothing to do and I suspect if this continues we'll be first cut.

 

[Wamapoke]

Yeah, working as security in events taking place in London. No work for me for the foreseeable future.

 

[Deleted member 46414]

My occupation in South Florida is deemed essential. I'm on the front lines.

 

[MercuryLS]

I work for a Canadian grocery chain in merchandising. We're all working from home and should be safe. My wife's a early childhood educator, and even though the schools are closed for a few weeks, she should be good too. I know I'm really lucky, wish all of you the best. I hope the Canadian government continues to do what's right for you all.

 

[ConHaki66]

my entire family is in healthcare, financially secure but i worry about their health when it comes to the virus

 

[SolidSnakeBoy]

My team got laid off earlier this year but we were given a phased runway of 6 months to finish work. Glad that I applied for new jobs right away and signed for my new job before this all started. I do not think finding a job in the later half of this year would have been an easy task, I pray for all my peers that will be stuck in that situation. I do not predict my new position will be affected by the epidemic thankfully.

 

[Relix]

I am unaffected due to the nature of my work and industry and I don't expect that to further change, but my fiancée may be on the cutting block by the end of next month. She works at an airline software company and they make money on the volume of transactions. Of course we all know that's not going well. Company said they will try to hold out until next month but they are lowering salaries to executives initially and probably employees soon. If it keeps going worse they'll have to let people go. She may be on the cutting block so it is what it is. Honestly, it's not a major deal as we are debt free and my salary is enough to cover all expenses, just not a whole lot of extra play money or savings. Some people have it worse so I am not stressing out much.

Now if by some miracle I do lose my job I'll be in a world of pain. As a software engineer I am never stressed about losing my job as I have a great deal of experience and a very specific skill set that can net be a job anywhere, but the current situation means all hiring will be put on freeze for a while. The chance of me losing the job is very very finite but hey, shit can happen.

To those in a tight issue, the best of luck my friends. Hopefully this will move the US to create a goddamn safety net.

 

[linkboy]

My US Cellular store is going over unemployment options for us in a meeting today, so I'm looking forward to hearing about that tomorrow.

I won't be coming back to this job as I'm going to be moving back with my fiancee in South Dakota at some point.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Just applied for aid. The nice thing is that under these circumstances you aren't required to be actively hunting for a new job, since your old job is theoretically still yours. The bad thing, the dollar amount I am currently approved for is about half what I was making. It's enough for me to get by, so I really can't complain. But, it gives me a real bad feeling for those who aren't as fortunate as me.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Three completely different friends have texted me today or posted on FB about their job loss just today.

 

[metalslimer]

I'm tutoring for the next few months,so I'm not making any money right now. Luckily that's not my main profession so I wont be unemployed too long

 

[spindashing]

Yep, laid off until we re-open, whenever that is. Will sign up for unemployment on Wednesday since they go by last names in the NYC system. I have money saved up so I am not too worried but I always hate dipping into those emergency funds.

 

[King Fossil]

Almost half of my company got laid off today. Fortunate to be safe, but for how long? Shit is crazy.

 

[KidAAlbum]

Bunch of my family has gotten laid off already. My dad works for the hospital, but is 66 years old. He's been told it's optional to work (he'll still get paid), but he's still helping out around the hospital. Think there's probably an inkling of thought left wondering if it will affect his employment.

 

[Terror-Billy]

My workplace fired the entire cleaning staff in order to guarantee there will be enough money for the workers at the end of the month. Kinda ironic that they went for the cleaning staff given what is actually happening. They said that there's enough money to pay for a 1 month lockdown but after that we will have to sit down and discuss some serious shit.

 

[Kthulhu]

My mom got laid off from her retail position. Her house and car are paid off so she just has to worry about filing for unemployment. Her bosses said they'd offer her a job once this is all over if she's interested.

 

[Poltergust]

The company I work for is a government contractor that specializes in developing military sims.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, if there's one thing you can count on is that the US loves spending money on the military. As long as the contracts keep coming I doubt I'll be out of work anytime soon.

That said, we are rolling out working from home throughout this week. I'll finally stop coming to the office on Wednesday.

 

[unknownspectator]

the owner of the place i work at is waiting to see if he can get a loan to keep us effected by the closures on the payroll. if not well I guess I'll be out of the job.

 

[J_Viper]

Small business owner here. Our business is going to tank. As an owner, I don't qualify for unemployment I think, and I won't have free time back to try to apply to other jobs, will be working full time and making $0 maybe this whole year along with the other owners just to keep the lights on and try to not fire our few employees (these people depend on their paychecks) so that when this is all over we can still have our business and hopefully come back from this.

It's pretty sobering, for sure. It's a family business, so my whole family will be making $0 (or the business will be in the red and we'll be bleeding our personal money until it's gone) so we can't have a family member we can fall back on for help if things get really bad. Also my parent's got fucked 2008-style with a deal that's timing fell right now and it looks really likely that they just lost almost all their retirement savings and are 70+ with $0 income outside social security to live on now. My dad built up our business from scratch over 40 years and losing all his retirement and maybe the business suddenly over the course of the last 10 days has gotten him really depressed. I've never been worried about my dad, but a tiny bit worried this could get him suicidal in worst case scenario.

Been spending 4-5 hours a day even this weekend on the phone with family members trying to figure out ideas for getting loans and as much liquid money as we can to survive and keep a roof over our head, food. It's been pretty depressing.

We're gonna try to float and hold in for as long as we can without firing anyone. Hoping for a miracle that some economic positive change happens to save so many people in the next few months.

I've always been the weird one in the family that's been ultra-paranoid about investing and whose kept a pretty low cost of living (to retire early at some point), so I should be ok even if our business shutters and can look for a new job in a year or two when things are hiring, but I'm pretty close to my family and seeing my parents go through this is hard. I'm going to work on getting a loan tomorrow personally so I can help out my parents financially for now.

Click to shrink...

My heart goes out to you and your folks

I'm going through something similar, as my dad is basically out of work, and my hours are slashed. Thankfully my mom is still working fully from home.

 

[Deleted member 198]

my workplace is trying to argue that we provide an essential service (we don't) and defy Michigan's stay at home order.
I'm going to get sick because of these fucks.

 

[klauskpm]

Welp, Brazil's President, Jair Bolsonaro, approved a measure that enables companies to hold employees without a paycheck for 4 months.

They(employees) will have to negotiate with their employer for what they will receive in their next for months.

It's cute calling it a negotiation when you choose between two options they give you:
The amount they thought it was fare (because there are no limits on how low you can on this 4 months limit) VS firing yourself and not getting any of the benefits you would receive if you were fired.

 

[Midas]

The amount they thought it was fare (because there are no limits on how low you can on this 4 months limit) VS firing yourself and not getting any of the benefits you would receive if you were fired.

Click to shrink...

Haha, this is crazy. Sorry for laughing but wtf.

 

[klauskpm]

Haha, this is crazy. Sorry for laughing but wtf.

Click to shrink...

Yup. When I say he is worse than Trump people don't believe me.

After such a backlash he is getting since this morning, he just revoked it. At least...

 

[Bebpo]

My heart goes out to you and your folks

I'm going through something similar, as my dad is basically out of work, and my hours are slashed. Thankfully my mom is still working fully from home.

Click to shrink...

Thanks, same to you and your family. Hopefully we can all get through this.

 

[ryan299]

my company laid half it's employees off today. If jersey closed warehouses we would probably go fully under. So if they re-examine the essential businesses we'll go out as there's really nothing essential about clothing at this point.

 

[Ultimate Bear Cub]

Yeah...I live in upstate NY. My customer shut their plant down because it was deemed nonessential and I'm just treading water now. It has been quiet for the most part and I haven't driven around since picking up supplies a few days ago.